


Smart-Rewritten

by AlwayzHuman



Series: Smart [2]
Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Drunk Mr. Watson, Episode: s01e01 A Study in Pink, Episode: s01e02 The Blind Banker, Episode: s01e03 The Great Game, John is a secret genious, Smart John, Smart John Watson, Smart!John, Supportive Mrs. Watson, hidden identities, secret genius
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-24
Updated: 2020-03-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:15:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23217610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwayzHuman/pseuds/AlwayzHuman
Summary: John had to grow up hiding how smart he really was. How does this change the story and how much John helps Sherlock's cases? Can John bridge the gap between Sherlock and the rest of the world?
Relationships: Mycroft Holmes/Greg Lestrade, Sherlock Holmes/John Watson
Series: Smart [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1668433
Comments: 3
Kudos: 68





	Smart-Rewritten

Growing up, John was bullied by both his sister and father, as well as other students, for spilling their secrets before he learned to filter himself. In fact, John could deduce people just as amazingly quick as Sherlock ever could from the tender age of ten, although he didn’t know about the science of deduction back then. Each one of them would call him names over and over again. _Twat. Yuppie. Freak. Mindreader. Monster._ Each name hurt, especially when they came from his older sister.

Once, Harry became especially violent when John deduced Harry at the dinner table and accidentally outed her about having a girlfriend. She managed to leap over the table and tackle John, chair and all, to the floor to beat him to a pulp. Once their parents separated them, their father turned on Harriet. He shouted at her and went on and on about how she is supposed to find a _husband_ and that it was John’s job to find a _wife_. Once he was finished shouting at Harry, their father turned on John and shouted at him about how he was a mutant and should never have been born with the ability to read people’s minds. He sent the two to their rooms after that but John still heard their father yelling at their mother well into the night.

The next morning, his mother took him to the side and told him he can’t tell anyone about how smart he was or show people his ‘superpower’. She promised to move him to a new school next school year so that he could start fresh. With his mother’s help, John was able to hide his brilliance from his father and sister, making it seem as if he was just ahead of the class in that particular year. It almost didn’t work on Mr. Watson but with enough beer, he was more agreeable to the idea. It worked on Harry for a while before she caught John mumbling his deductions to himself as they watched a school parade together. She promised to keep quiet so long as he didn’t out her on anything again.

John watched as his mother talked to the principal and his teachers over what to do about his higher IQ, occasionally suggesting ideas of his own. In the end, they decided to collaborate with a local high school and community college to give John books and homework that were high school and college level while he stayed in his fifth-grade classes. John finished high school and his prerequisite classes for college by the end of his first year of middle school, surprising several school board members. He surprised his mother when he first started his college classes by requesting to go by the name Hamish Abbott, using his mother’s maiden name in an attempt to honor her in some small way. He used that summer to figure out what he wanted to study for his college degree. 

It wasn’t until he patched his mother up after watching his father beat her with drunken fists that he knew what he wanted to be. When the school year started up again, John found himself learning everything he can about the medical field. John used all of his middle school years learning about every different type of medical knowledge he could get his hands on. With such high grades, he was able to get a lot of scholarships for college.

At the same time, he continued to pretend to be a normal kid, playing the clarinet (although he preferred the guitar), playing rugby, making friends, and occasionally dating. He openly dated women during middle school and high school but made sure to hide the men he dated so that his father wouldn’t be able to tell. He found that most of the friends he made were boring and dull. Although, he did find his secret pleasure for hacking and computers due to one of his rugby mates before said rugby mate got caught by the principal for trying to change his grades in the computer. John also managed to convince his mother to get a divorce and helped her find a good lawyer. She won the house and custody of the kids. Amelia Abbott was free from Mr. Watson.

Then everything changed. His father died from alcohol poisoning a year later and Harriet began drinking her supposed sadness away, leaving his mother to try to deal with the rising debt of Harry’s school and alcohol consumption. John cared deeply for his mother, she being the only one to support his genius throughout his life, and decided to find a way to help his mother financially. He tried getting a job as a clerk and medical assistant but his mother was still behind on Harriet's school debt. It didn’t help that Harriet kept sneaking off with their money to buy more alcohol. She didn’t even work to make her own money! It made John furious and the two would get into rows with each other on a near-daily basis, which resulted in him deducing her latest secrets and her wrestling him to the floor until their mother came home from her shift.

As John worked his way around, trying to help his mother, ‘Hamish Abbott’ became known as a consultant to doctors. ‘Hamish Abbott’ became so popular among the doctors that John eventually made an email and website for his own consulting business. It managed to rack in enough money to help his mother catch up on her bills that Harry was hindering. He managed to perform all of his cases through email, keeping his true identity a secret. However, he still didn’t make enough to finish paying the debt or get Harry to rehab.

John eventually worked his way up to St Barts where he made more friends, one of which was named Mike Stamford. John still found him dull but not as much as his other friends. Mike even seemed to have a sixth sense of just knowing things. Which is how he knew John was looking for a job to help his family and not for school like he keeps saying it’s for. Mike wasn’t a genius like John, the young doctor was sure of that fact after Mike insisted that he saw a leprechaun on St. Patrick’s Day. Still, Mike did help him find a job.

That is how John H. Watson ended up signing up for the army. A week before he was departed, John received an odd email in his ‘Hamish Abbott’ account. The sender sounded very formal and John could tell that the sender was the older brother of a drug addict, who is the patient that the sender wanted him to look at, and that he seemed the type who could potentially uncover his identity if John wasn’t careful. After making sure his email was secure, John explained to the formal sender that he didn’t do house calls and that everything had to be over email. He also mentioned that he had already enlisted in the army and will be departing soon, keeping the exact date out of each so that Mr. MH couldn’t interfere. John also sent him a short list of some of the best rehab doctors that he trusted.

Two days after the first email, he received another. Apparently the little brother, who has only been referred to as ‘William’ in the previous email, was contacting him and complaining about rehab and his older brother. John found it amusing and replied to him. He found that the little brother was smart, picking up on things John didn’t bother hiding, and was just as posh as the older brother. The major difference was how childish the little brother seemed to be, making John question how old this William really was. 

It was intriguing and the contact between the two managed to prevent William from taking drugs again, even when John couldn’t answer for long periods of time due to the army. The two never mentioned anything about meeting up, both content with just emailing each other. Although, he did complain about how the NSY officers were incompetent. He even went so far as to complain about a forensic scientist named Anderson not working with him.

John looked forward to William’s emails, ignoring the fact that he might be developing a crush on his pen pal despite the fact that they also didn’t give each other details that were too personal. John still had a crush on William’s mind.

While in the army, John was able to use his deductive skills to find hidden enemies and shoot them down. At the same time, he used his skills as a medical officer to patch up his teammates while still shooting the enemies coming at them. It was thrilling. John wasn’t sure he’d ever felt more alive. He even became more grateful for the army when he was able to help his mother finish paying off the debt. He shook his head when he read the letter from his mother stating that she forced Harriet to find a job and get her own place. He was happy his mother was finally taking control over her home again. Then he got shot.

**Author's Note:**

> I mostly just wanted to do something quick to tell John's past and add in an idea that wasn't in the original but there will be more dialogue in the rest of the chapters. I've also decided that John won't hide his intelligence as much when with Sherlock.
> 
> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter.


End file.
